From Ocean to Ocean
by Bilbo-sama
Summary: [Post Kingdom Hearts 3, ignores secret ending] There's a debt to pay off and the ocean never forgets.


I'm back with another post-KH3 AU and this time its pirate-y.

The idea behind this is:

1\. Sora didn't actually get to fulfill his promise to free Tia Dalma/Calypso from her earthly form (in exchange of obtaining the Leviathan)

2\. Davy Jones can be petty

So...yeah.

I've gotten some idea on how to continue this but I think I need to reacquaint myself with the POTC movies first. So for now, this is marked complete.

(I am aware of the secret movie but don't worry about it. That'll be addressed eventually too.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. That goes to Disney and Square Enix.

* * *

From Ocean to Ocean

By Bilbo-sama

* * *

He was awakened by a rocking motion and the sound of wood creaking and settling. Voices murmur among themselves as footsteps got louder as the one making them approached.

"Sora?" said a concerned, accented voice, "Is it truly you?"

Sora opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of Will Turner crouching down to meet him.

"Y-yeah," Sora managed and was surprised when he looked down and saw how solid he was. He was...whole.

...And on a ship in the Caribbean instead of where he knew he was _supposed_ to be going.

"I'm...alive?" Sora asked in bewilderment.

Will shook his head, "Not exactly."

Sora then noticed the pirates standing nearby. All were fish-like in appearance. He remembered fighting off a few of them during the confrontation against Davy Jones.

"Davy Jones was supposed to lead those who died at sea to the after life," explained Will, "but he had abused that duty. The crew I inherited are damned to service on the Flying Dutchman until their debt is settled. They serve me now but there is very little I can do to clear their previous debts."

"What about me?" asked Sora as he nervously got up from the deck floor, "I don't owe Davy Jones a debt." He frowned, "At least, I don't think I do."

"I don't know what you did but I can sense that you have been damned to serve the Flying Dutchman for 50 years from the moment of your death and so have Donald and Goofy."

"W-what?!"

"It musta been when ye used yer fists against the Cap'n," a guy whose head resembled a shark's called out.

"Aye, that could've been it," agreed another crewman.

"Never seen a lad rage like you did," added a clam-like being.

"Because he killed you, Will!" explained Sora desperately, "you and Elizabeth had just gotten married and he killed you for it."

"And so you, Donald, and Goofy were pressed into service on this ship out of spite," realized Will.

"Is there any way to get Donald and Goofy out of this?" pleaded Sora, "I would do anything!"

Something within Will woke up as he stared at the boy (by Calypso, he's so _young_). Whatever he had gone through, it struck away some of the innocence in Sora's eyes and left him with a wisdom that was gained through a harsh lesson. But it did nothing to his kindness and the strength of his heart.

Now that he's noticed it, Sora's heart -

"Oh wow, your eyes are glowing!" exclaimed Sora, startling Will before he remembered and sighed tiredly. Ah, that's right.

"You've initiated a bargain, Sora," said Will, his voice echoing with an unearthly power that made Sora instinctively try to back away. The railing behind him refused to let him go further. A few crabs on the railing skittered away to avoid being accidentally knocked off the ship. "Are you sure you are willing to do anything to spare your friends from this fate?"

Will hated dangling the boy's loved ones like that. How Sora flinched as his own words were thrown back at him. How his crew silently watched instead of goading Sora into making a decision (there was no need for it, the Flying Dutchman has already claimed him).

And then Sora slouched as if in defeat. In acceptance of his predicament. He sighed and mumbled something that sounded like 'Sorry, Kairi' to Will's ears.

The boy stood up straight and locked eyes with Will, "I am willing," Sora declared. "Even if it means having my service to this ship extended."

"Even if it means never seeing those you love alive ever again?"

Sora winced but he still nodded, "Yes."

"Are you willing to have Donald and Goofy's length of service to me added to yours?"

"If that can spare them, then yes."

"Alright then," Will reached out and offered a hand. Sora, with a grim expression, grabbed it.

Everyone on the ship seemed to sense a surge of power passing through as the captain of the Flying Dutchman rewrote the final fate of the teenager before him. To Sora, it was like nothing else existed outside of the handshake. It was just him, his knowledge that this was a consequence of abusing the power of waking and angering beings of great power, and Will Turner who seemed to have become a conduit of the forces behind the role that was passed over to him.

A few moments had only passed but it felt like an eternity the moment the connection was broken. It left Sora feeling as though he had more weight added onto his very being.

Will looked at him softly before becoming stern, "Welcome aboard, Sora. Your duties to this ship ends in one hundred and fifty years."

"Aye, Captain," acknowledged Sora solemnly.

As Will introduced the new recruit to the crew, the crabs on the railing crawled over the side of the ship and dissolved once they touched water. Their memory of what transpired entered Calypso's domain.

The boy who never got to fulfill his promise to Tia Dalma received his second chance to pay back his debt to the ocean.

It is unknown if he'll be able to pay it off unchanged.

* * *

1\. I know the rest of the crew weren't actually present during the boss fight against Davy Jones but for story purposes, they were.

2\. I'm very tempted to be lazy and have Sora's eventual Flying Dutchman form be based on his Atlantica self.

3\. Does Sora still have the Keyblade? Maybe. But at the same time, he's tied to the Caribbean so I don't think he can actually leave the world (or step onto land).

4\. It took a month before somebody accidentally swore around Sora. Turns out, he's heard stronger swears from Donald.


End file.
